Aquiring the Melrose Alley House in the late 1990's, the alley garage at approximately 7751 N. Melrose Alley adjacent to the #sportieLA parking lot of of N. Genesee Avenue. Genesee is in the eastern end of the Melrose District. The district, which runs from Fairfax to Highland Avenue, became a popular underground and new wave shopping area and street artist haven in the early 1980s. Pioneered by adventurous independent retailers such as SportieLA at the corner of Genesee, and restaurateurs, Melrose Avenue captured the global imagination as the birthplace of Southern California's New Wave and Punk cultures. Rapid notoriety quickly lured movie stars, moguls, and style seekers, leading the press to dub Melrose Avenue "the new Rodeo Drive" with street art. Being about a mile away from Paramount Studios, Melrose was ready for its close-up, and the avenue enjoyed its share of TV and movie cameos, and appears regularly today in Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" segments, in addition to pop culture gems like the 1986 film Modern Girls (with future Melrose Place star Daphne Zuniga, Entourage and LA Ink.
Melrose District got its notoriety in Aaron Spelling's 1990s soap opera on the Fox network Melrose Place. While there are no apartment buildings on the real Melrose Place, there is one of those buildings with a pool located just steps from Melrose on Genesee (and our neighbors on the alley.
As a constantly evolving merchant district, it has featured stores such as Olivia Newton-John's Korner of Australia in Los Angeles aka "Koala Blue", Vinyl Fetish, Harvey's On Melrose Golden Girls Rattan Furniture and Retail Slut, They all closed several years ago, Harvey's has made a come back after 20 years but on Beverly the new Melrose while The Burger That Ate L.A., a landmark fast food stand, was in recent years replaced with a Starbucks. The original Johnny Rockets opened in this end of Melrose in 1986. Long-term stakeholders like The Groundlings, l.a.Eyeworks, Angeli Caffe and Sportie LA have shown continued dedication to the community. In 2005, musician and director Joe Hahn, member of the rock band Linkin Park, opened his concept retail store SURU on the 7600 block of Melrose. Canadian designer John Fluevog opened on Melrose in 2003. As one of the city's most walking-friendly neighborhoods, this must-see destination has maintained its reputation for an original, alternative and independent experience for more than three decades.
At the corner of Martel and Melrose is what has been described as one of the best neighborhood taverns in Los Angeles by Bon Appetit Magazine and is one of the only local pubs that are exclusively a futbol (soccer) bar. Its feel even reminds Melrose of its roots by having a distinct Aussie feel to it. Also on Martel, the alley south of Melrose is another of our street art hubs.